During the latest episode of his To Be The Man podcast, Ric Flair discussed why he is returning to the ring and reveals it is not for the money but because he loves the glory.

On this return to the ring aged 73:

“I just want to address a few things that I think people need to hear about. I would say it’s 70% positive. But for the 30% of people that are worried about me getting in a ring and wrestling again, first of all, I assure you that I’ve been in the ring a lot more than I’ve shown on social media,” he said.

“I have to get quicker. I have to get faster. I’m in better shape now because I train with Rob, John Cena’s personal trainer, than I’ve ever been in my life in terms of cardio. I’ve never been a cosmetic wonderboy so I am going to wear a shirt, but I can assure you that in two and a half months, I will put on a clinic of what real wrestling should be about.”

“I’m never going to be able to do a moonsault. God bless those that can. For the other people that don’t follow social media to understand, you don’t see how much money I make from Cameo. That alone I can live on for the rest of my life. I just made a commercial for Carshield. My life is good. I don’t need the money, but baby, I do like the glory. I’m never going to walk away from it. If I have a chance to get myself over, I’m going to do it.”

On past experience making him want to get back in the ring:

"That’s what I’ve been doing my whole life. You don’t understand. If I can crash in that airplane with a pilot killed and two guys are paralyzed and get back on another plane and fly six months later, you could do anything. So I almost died four years ago. I got a pacemaker. I almost died of a blood clot. I had four heart operations in seven weeks. I’m good to go.”

“I will decide on when I want to go. So this is not about the money. This is about me doing what I’ve done my whole life. I watch wrestling every day because I love it, and I respect the guys in it.”

On what his doctors have told him:

“Everybody’s got a different opinion. So I follow one heart doctor that I have the most confidence in, the guy I like the most. I called him and said I wanted to do this,” Flair said.

“The only thing I was worried about was getting in with a pacemaker. He said, ‘Ric, there’s enough scar tissue around that thing now that I believe it’ll hold. If you want to do it, do it.’ That was the answer. That was the only concern.”

“The other concern, which I haven’t had in a long time, would have been when I get dizzy because of the equilibrium issue that I have with the inner ear problem, but I haven’t had that since I wrestled Edge in a ladder match. So, just a couple of concerns, but I’m not afraid of it.”

“I have more self confidence, which is important for me personally, than I had when I wrestled Shawn, especially because this will be a tag match format.”